Sep 17, 2020
Sweetwater Response
5yYou are correct that we recently did a special mid-year raise in wages for many of our entry level and early career employees. In the midst of covid when so many people are experiencing additional financial pressures and many companies (not Sweetwater) are laying people off, we thought we'd go the other direction and actually help out many of our team members who could most benefit from a special wage increase. This was in addition to the normal annual raises that occur for virtually all of our team members (including those making over $15/hour) toward the beginning of each year. However, it is not accurate that new hourly employees are making as much as or more than tenured employees. In fact, in the Sales Assistant/Account Coordinator area specifically there is not a single new hire coming who's starting wage will be as high as our tenured employees with multiple years of experience. I'm afraid you may have received some misinformation on this and I'd be happy to speak with you more and provide clarification if you'd find it helpful. We of course value our tenured team members and are regularly evaluating wage levels across all departments to ensure they are appropriately rewarded. In addition, many of our team members achieve even higher pay increases as they work their way up through promotion. Through the end of July, we've had 82 different people promoted into new roles within the company - another sign as to how much trust we put into our tenured team members. Regardless, I'm always happy to talk with someone who has concerns about their level of pay and am happy to connect with you if you'd like to share your concerns directly. - Jeff Ostermann, Chief People Officer